416 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



out the lake and the two rivers, but is taken in largest quantities in 

 the lake. Perch, sturgeon, i)ickerel, and herring are the other principal 

 species. 



The fishing in the St. Clair Eiver is of slight extent. Important 

 pound-net fishing, maintained at Port Huron, is carried on in Lake 

 Huron, and has been credited to that lake. The principal fishing cen- 

 ters in the river itself are Eoberts Landing, Marine City, St. Clair, and 

 Algonac. A few haul seines are fished for wall-eyed pike, but the 

 largest quantities offish are taken with hand and troll lines. Yellow 

 perch are caught with hand lines and wall-eyed pike and pike by troll- 

 ing. The line fishery is semi-i)rofessional, and is carried on during the 

 months of May, June, July, and August, but chiefly from the middle 

 of June to the middle of July. 



The principal fishing in Lake St. Clair is carried on in Anchor Bay 

 and on the shore immediately north of Detroit, the chief apparatus 

 used being pound nets, fyke nets, and haul seines. In Anchor Bay the 

 fishing centers are Fair Haven, Anchorville, and New Baltimore. The 

 fishes of commercial importance found in the lake are yellow perch, 

 suckers, catfish, sturgeon, black bass, wall-eyed pike, pike, herring, and 

 muskellunge. In Anchor Bay there is some winter fishing through the 

 ice with lines and spears, chiefly for perch. The pound-net fishery is 

 much more important than any of the others and yields somewhat more 

 than half the catch of this entire region. The specially prominent fish 

 thus obtained are whitefish, sturgeon, pike, pike perch, and herring, 

 whiteflsh and herring being most abundant in the lower part of the 

 lake along the shore adjacent to the entrance to the Detroit Eiver. 



The fisheries of the Detroit Kiver are at the present time of little 

 value. The only commercial fishing on the American side is carried 

 on with seines from the early part of October to the last of November, 

 the catch being relatively small and consisting chiefly of whitefish, 

 herring, and pike. The fisheries have greatly declined since 1885, 

 when the industry was at a low ebb. In earlier years there was a great 

 abundance of whitefish in this river, and the annual yield was very 

 large. Mr. James Craig, of Detroit, who has for many years engaged 

 in the fish business of that city, informs us that near Fort Wayne, now 

 within the city limits of Detroit, the average catch of whitefish in haul 

 seines was from 18,000 to 21,000 fish, weighing, on an average, from 2^ 

 to 21 pounds. On November 12, 1871, at one haul of a seine, 3,100 

 whitefish were caught. With the growth of the city and the increase 

 in the amount of sewage entering the river, the fisheries have declined to 

 their present condition. The number of whitefish taken in the vicinity 

 of Fort Wayne in 1890 was only 3,000, and the output of the entire river 

 was only 35,500 j)ounds. 



